President: Nigel Rigiani Chairman: Mike Shepherd Patron: Mark Gilbert BRITISH BARCELONA CLUB’S 50 ANNIVERSARY (Part 2). The late Trevor Dodd of Taunton. open BBC Palamos (694 miles) 1975. I stayed with my mate Bob Reeves for a weekend of Devon and Cornwall loft visits in the late 1990’s and it was on that tour that I met the National champion, Trevor Dodd of Taunton. Bob woke me up at 6.30 am on the Saturday morning and we were soon onâ¦
Source: British Barcelona Club
President: Nigel Rigiani Chairman: Mike Shepherd
Patron: Mark Gilbert
BRITISH BARCELONA CLUB’S 50
ANNIVERSARY (Part 2).
The late Trevor Dodd of Taunton.
open BBC Palamos (694 miles) 1975.
I stayed with my mate Bob Reeves for a weekend of Devon and Cornwall loft visits in the late
1990’s and it was on that tour that I met the National champion, Trevor Dodd of Taunton. Bob woke
me up at 6.30 am on the Saturday morning and we were soon on the road, heading for Taunton in
Somerset, and the home of the 1996 Saintes winners, Mr. & Mrs. Trevor Dodd. The Dodd family
lived in a quiet little village called Ham; about three miles outside Taunton and his very smart lofts
were set in massive gardens with rose beds and an apple orchard. On our arrival Trevor was waiting
with his grandson, Matthew, for youngsters from the Sartilly National. Bob Reeves and Trevor had
been good friends for many years and Trevor said that he got as much pleasure out of Bob winning
the Nantes National in 1996 as he did when he himself won the Saintes National that season. Trevor
had been in the sport for 50 years and had a very keen partner in his ten year old grandson, Matthew.
The youngster loves football and was a great fan of Robbie Fowler and Liverpool FC. Matthew and
his grandmother were a great help to Trevor with cleaning and clocking the pigeons.
Trevor was no stranger to winning big time Classic and National long distance races, recording lst
Open Palamos (BBC), lst Open Pau (BICC) and lst Open Perpignan in recent years. Trevor raced
Natural with his old long distance family to win these 600 miles events, but in recent seasons the
main stay of his loft was Billy Parkes' Busschaerts and he was mostly interested in middle distance
events. The Dodds' Saintes National winner was their Busschaert blue chequer Widowhood cock
champion `Fairoak Rocket' and this game pigeon had previously won several racing cards in club
events. On his build up to Saintes National, `Fairoak Rocket' had coastal tosses and two Nantes races
in club.
Trevor's main racing loft was 44 ft long and was a double-decker, with open door trapping and
office/basket store on one end. This smart loft housed mostly young birds and was spotlessly clean,
being scraped out regularly. Trevor raced 18 cocks on the Widowhood system, raced to their own 18
ft three section loft and also trapped through open doors. The Widowhood cocks were paired up on
February 12 each season, with middle distance Channel races in mind. Trevor said his cocks excel
up to 400 miles and the odd one or two did well from Dax and Pan. He showed hens to the
Widowhood cocks for about five minutes on marking night and broke down from race day until
Tuesday morning. Birds were fed on first class Widowhood mixture and flew out around the loft at
regular time; they got garlic in the drinking water and Hormoform twice a week. Trevor maintained
that Natural was the best system for long distance races and retained a few birds of his old distance
family for this job.
Trevor was born in Torquay and became a pigeon fancier at the age of ten. A friend in Torquay gave
him his first birds and the first club he joined was Torbay Inv F.C. He made a few silly mistakes in
the beginning, but got a lot of help and encouragement from the late Tom Pym and his son, Mervyn
of Torquay. Trevor's first loft was a converted wardrobe and as a lad he just loved messing around
with pigeons.
Trevor kept about 30 pairs of stock birds, mostly Busschaerts and these were housed in several
spacious lofts and fights. He picked out stock birds on pedigree and racing records, not on handling
or type. The stock loft retained a few of his old distance family and the breeding pigeons were paired
up at the end of February. The Dodd’s best stock pigeon at that time was ‘The Unrung Cock', a
handsome red chequer Busschaert and he was sire of countless winners and grandsire of champion
'Fairoak Rocket'. The Dodd’s race about 50 young birds each season and all went through to the
longest race from Penzance and were never paired up, but raced to the perch. In 1996 season Trevor
raced the young birds a bit differently by going up to Weymouth then across the Channel. The
Dodds' only raced South Road. and because they only live 18 miles from the south coast, they had to
race three races from east along the coast then across the Channel. The only time they had flown
North Road was in 1983 when there was no Channel racing and they won 3rd Club Thurso (500
miles). Trevor sadly past away in 2007 and the sport of pigeon racing lost one of its champions.
